The present invention relates to a multi-draw poker game and in particular to a multi-draw poker game for implementation on gaming machines, also referred to as slot machines, xe2x80x9cpokiesxe2x80x9d, and one arm bandits.
Players who regularly play gaming machines quickly tire of particular games and it is therefore necessary for manufacturers of gaming machines to come up with either innovative gaming features that add interest to the games provided on such machines, or provide new games in order to keep the players amused and willing to continue playing gaming machines.
The revenue raised by an operator of a particular venue providing gaming machines, depends on the amount of money wagered on the machines. The amount of money wagered on a particular machine is related to the popularity of the machine. Thus, when selecting a supplier of gaming machines, the operator of the venue will pay close attention to the popularity of the various games with their patrons.
Therefore it is important for a gaming machine manufacturers to devise games which are popular with players. Games which are popular with players are often those which are new and therefore gaming machine manufacturers seek to devise new games or game features which have not previously been seen on slot machines, in order to stimulate player interest.
The applicant""s own Australian Patent Registration No 690499 discusses an improved multi-draw poker game in which a player can make multiple draws against held cards from a single hand. The present invention seeks to further improve on AU 690499 end provide more interesting variations of poker games.
In a broadest aspect, the present invention provides a game for playing on a gaming machine or the like wherein one or more indicia are caused to be displayed on a display means and, if a predefined winning event arises a prize is awarded, the game being characterised in that an initial set of indicia is displayed on the display means sad the player selects one or more indicia to be held from that initial set, other non-held indicia being discarded from the set and wherein following the player selection, one or more additional sets of indicia are then generated and displayed on the display means and wherein the indicia in each additional set are dependent on the indicia held in the initial set but are not identical to those held indicia.
The invention also provides a gaming apparatus or machine incorporating a display means and game control means arranged to control images displayed on the display means arranged to play the game of the present invention.
Thus in that aspect the present invention provides gaming machine having a display means and a game control means arranged to control images displayed on the display means, the game control means being arranged to play a game wherein one or more indicia are caused to be displayed on the display means and, if a predefined winning event arises the machine awards a prize, the gaming machine being characterised in that an initial set of indicia is displayed on the display means and the player selects one or more indicia to be held from that initial set, other non-held indicia being discarded from the set and wherein following the player selection, one or more additional sets of indicia are then generated and displayed on the display means and wherein the indicia in each additional set are dependent on the indicia held in the initial set but are not identical to those held indicia.
The game might also be played on distributed gaming systems such as Internet based gaming systems and other systems where the game display is remote from the game control system.
One embodiment of the game is implemented as a poker style game using hands xe2x80x9cdrawnxe2x80x9d from decks of standard cards or at least a simulation thereof. In one version of that embodiment the cards in the multiple new hands have the same face value as the held cards but are in different suits. Preferably the xe2x80x9cdeck of cards includes an additional suit of multi-suit cards which have a single face value e.g. 1 or 2 or 3 etc or Ace etc, but can be any of the four suits. Reference is made to the Applicant""s co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/848,188 entitled xe2x80x9cIMPROVED CARD GAMExe2x80x9d and filed May 2, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In an alternative embodiment, the game control means generates multiple new hands of held cards to the same strategy as the originally held cards. The new hands may be dealt with a different face value, or in a different suit.
By xe2x80x9csame strategyxe2x80x9d is meant that the extra hands of xe2x80x9cheldxe2x80x9d cards reproduce the strategy adopted by the player. For example, if the player is going for an xe2x80x9cof-a-kindxe2x80x9d hand, four additional of-a-kind hands having the same number of cards are displayed.
In one preferred embodiment, if the already winning hand is a flush, the same cards, if all cards are held by the player (who may wish to discard some of the cards to attempt to obtain a better hand, say a straight flush) are reproduced in the four different suits. If the already winning hand is a straight, the control means generates straights having differing start cards.
However, the xe2x80x9csame strategyxe2x80x9d embodiment may be used if the first dealt hand is not a winning hand, for example, if three cards having the same suit are dealt and the player holds for a flush.
The holds may be chosen by a player or at the suggestion of the machine on auto hold, although auto hold may be overridden by a player.